


In a World Where They Came Back For Each Other

by locrianrose



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 08:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7500801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/locrianrose/pseuds/locrianrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things are different here, and for the better. </p>
<p>(A world where they found a way to save nearly everyone.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	In a World Where They Came Back For Each Other

In a world where they came back for each other:

 

They step off the ship together, and all she can do is stare. Her mind is still scarred and ringing with the echoes of compassion and indifference, and all she can do is slowly move at his side, focusing on what she can remember and still possesses of herself. She can keep fighting what is taking place inside her mind.

Name? Carolina. That’s what he knows her as. There was another name in the past, something that she could almost remember her mother calling her in passing, scolding her for something that she doesn’t know how to remember anymore. Wash is trailing after York, moving as slow as she is, and York is still nervously scanning the area for anything that might alert the government to their presence.

He’s gripping her hand, and she gingerly follows, edging away from the other passengers who are attempting to brush past them. When Wash grabs on to her bag to keep up she nearly hits him, York’s hand on her own the only thing stopping her. She doesn’t know what to do, and York pulling the two of them along is the only thing keeping them together.

There are too many people here, too many voices, and Carolina can tell that Wash is as upset as she is, and for once in her life she’s completely and genuinely grateful to see South reappear out of the crowd and approach them, hair hidden under a tight headscarf.

“Come on. North’s impatient as hell.”

“We’re coming.” York states easily, pulling Carolina and Wash along with him, and South rolls her eyes before grabbing Wash’s arm, ignoring how he jumps when she does it. The city is a blur, and Carolina isn’t able to relax, even when they do enter into a building and North is there waiting for them.

The apartment is cramped for the five of them, and Carolina doesn’t do much for the first week there other than stare at the walls, trying to fathom what happened and how miserably she’d failed, and how she could have tried to do things better. South and North fight one night, yelling from the tiny kitchen, and as South slams the door and storms out, Carolina is stares up at the ceiling, trying to ignore Wash muttering in the corner. The words that he forces out haunt her, and she knows the things that he says, and refuses to consider what they would mean.

Alison. Alpha. Eta and Iota cry out for those two, trying to reach them even now they’re gone, and she doesn’t know what to do with the gaping absence that they left in her mind. Delta talks to her one night when York thinks that she’s sleeping, and his bland reassurances don’t do much to calm her, as much as he attempts. Distantly, she appreciates his care.

She misses her armor. Wishes she knew where it was, that she had it to protect her again. She somehow doubts that the project would let them get away with their suits, but one day as she slowly makes her way to the bathroom she spots South’s helmet lying in a corner, and she isn’t quite sure. She can’t remember what happened to hers after Maine and before she’d been found, hanging from the cliff face and practically frozen and nearly unresponsive.

York is going out more and more at nights, and she knows that she needs to do something and try to help them, but it’s difficult to move and to think and she doesn’t know what to say to him about his care or about anything that’s happened. It’s been three weeks since the crash, although she doesn’t know that, when she makes up her mind that she needs to do something and drags Wash to his feet at her side and pulls him into the kitchen with her. She’d been out there before when York had helped her up, but hadn’t taken the initiative herself. North’s already there, reading something, and his nearly invisible eyebrows raise as she does.

“You’re sure he should be out here?”

It takes her a moment to process that he’s talking about Wash, but once she does, she manages a reply. “Of course it is. He’ll be fine.” She hides the way that she’s shaking by helping Wash to sit and then moving to elbow North. “We’ll all be.”

She catches a glimpse of Theta watching her, but she pushes away the nausea that comes at the thought of AI away and sits down.

\----

Things improve from there. It’s slow, and some days Carolina can’t even stand to make herself move and all she can do is lay silently on the floor and remind herself who she is, and why she’s here and that she isn’t a fragment of a greater whole, and that she has worth and that she can do what she needs to do and that she can afford to trust her own judgement, and that she can trust York and North because they came back for her and Wash.

She doesn’t learn to trust herself immediately, but it comes slowly. York trusts her. Maybe he shouldn’t, but he does and she loves him for that. Their relationship doesn’t progress, but he’s there for her, and he trusts her and she needs that. He trusts her even now, and that means more than anything else in the world could to her. A day comes when she’s able to for a little while not feel like the guilt is pressing in on her and threatening to crush her down, and she learns from it.

 Wash gets better, and he spends less time huddling in on himself and more time sitting and watching, silently observing, and Carolina wonders just what Epsilon did to him.

 That’s something they won’t talk about for a long time.

North and South start taking on jobs for pay, calling on York when they need him, and Carolina drags Wash to the local excuse for a gym to run, glaring at anyone who dares to stare at their scars. Soon enough they stop staring, and they’re subtly accepted into the group that exists there.

\---

It’s after one of those days when she comes home to something that she didn’t expect, and the moment that she opens the door to the apartment, Wash following after her, she recognizes the voice that she hears, and she slams the door shut, sprinting away and out of the complex, because she isn’t ready for this, she isn’t anywhere as prepared as she should be and she doesn’t have her armor and York must be working with _her_ again, and she refuses to deal with it at this moment because the last time that she fought her everything fell apart and _this was not supposed to happen._

Carolina finds herself again at a park. She’s breathing heavily, and wants nothing more than to collapse on the grass and not feel anything. It’s dry and it prickles unpleasantly on her skin as she flops down onto it and makes her miss the feeling of armor all over again. She’s naked without it, and she determines that she needs to ask York what happened to hers, and if it’s lost, then she’s going to find her own.

“Carolina.” She closes her eyes, tenses, and then opens them, sitting up and facing the reason she ran.

“Texas.”

The other looks heart shatteringly familiar without her helmet, but Carolina doesn’t let that control her, as much as the echoes in her head want to scream. Still, something is off from Carolina’s own embedded memories, and there’s something synthetic about her appearance that’s a little too perfect, and the voice doesn’t match up.

Tex sits down on the grass after a moment. A kid playing at the park eyes them from the distance, but for now Carolina has something far more important to focus on.

“I’m sorry.”

That surprises her. York hadn’t spoke about Texas, and she hadn’t brought it up. It’d been a taboo topic between them, and one that had created significant distance throughout Carolina’s recovery process. Maybe it wouldn’t have hurt to have asked. Hell, there’s a chance that it might have been something that could have helped them.

“Why.” Carolina eventually forces the word out. “Why would _you_ be sorry?”

“I should’ve been quicker. Known what I was.” The words sound awkward coming from Texas, as if she wasn’t meant to be saying those things.

“What are you?”

Tex smiles grimly, and stands, offering Carolina a hand. “A shadow.”

Carolina ignores the hand, noting her choice of words. “CT said that. You killed her.”

“I did.” Tex shrugs awkwardly, then jerks her head towards the street. “Wash is worried. You better get back to the kid.”

“Are you coming with?”

“Don’t see why I won’t. The Meta--Maine’s--on the move.”

“Maine?” Carolina is instantly alert, staring at the other.

“I wouldn’t call him that anymore. C’mon, Carolina. Let’s get moving.”

Carolina starts to walk, and Tex matches her pace and Carolina has to remind herself that she doesn’t have to speed up to walk faster, and while they go Texas gives her the basic details, running over what they’re up against, and just who their going to be fighting.

Wyoming is a wild card, and one that poses a significant threat. That night, as they talk, York tells them that he wants to take him down. Carolina isn’t sure why he’s so determined, but she surprises herself with what she says to him.

“I’ll come with.”

York studies her for a moment, then nods. “Alright. D?”

“I believe that it would be best if we waited a few weeks to ensure Agent Carolina’s optimal physical condition.”

“Then we will.”

“You’re sure you’re willing to wait?” Tex was frowning. “If he’s helping Maine, then we need to stop him sooner than later.”

“We’re sure.” Carolina interjects, and when they all turn to look at her she feels a jolt of panic in her stomach, debating what to do or say. Why would they listen to her, after how she failed? They don’t have to listen to her now. She hasn’t been in a position to lead for months.

Tex breaks the silence. “Alright. It’s a plan.”

Carolina is relieved, and when a few days later a battered set of armor in a familiar shade appears in the corner she takes the time to check it over, to be sure everything’s still as she remembers it.

\---

A week later, South goes missing. She disappears, and by the second day everyone is jittery and worried. Carolina forces herself to consider the options. Either she’s simply tired of them all and left, or the Meta found and killed her, or she’s back with the project. No matter what option, she can see that they need a change of surroundings, so she broaches the subject as they eat.

“We need to leave.”

North and York exchange a glance, then input comes from an unexpected source.

“He won’t just let us go.” Wash looks pained as he speaks, but the fact that he’s contributing to a conversation speaks volumes for the situation, more than anything else ever could. He’s still not completely present, Carolina can see that, but she supposes that she doesn’t have any room to judge him for that.

“We won’t give him the choice.” Carolina isn’t completely sure who he’s talking about. She doesn’t think that she really wants to know.

It’s North who sighs, then nods.

“If South is gone—I don’t know. I’d rather think that she’ll come back, but I doubt it at this point. Carolina’s right.”

York stares at her for a moment.

“…Alright, Carolina.”

She doesn’t know if they’ll let her lead them, if they’ll want that or not, and what she needs to ask kills her to say.

“Can you contact Tex?”

“Maybe. I’ll see what I can do.”

And that’s that, for then. That night, they all start to pack up the clatter that’s spread in their time there, deciding what’s necessary and what can be thrown out. Wash doesn’t do much to help, mostly watching and waiting. Carolina throws herself into the process.

Tex shows up the next week. They’re ready to move out then, and she nods to Carolina when she sees her ready to move out.

“Good to have you back.”

“Good to be back.” Carolina replies, and she honestly does mean it. They’ve got a goal again, and she’s got a portion of her team that she can actually trust, and that’s important and together they’ve got a chance that they’d never have alone. Wash is better now than he was months ago, and with time she thinks that he might be something of what he was before.

They’ll take care of Wyoming. That’ll be their goal for now, and as for what will come after that, only time will tell, but for now she is back and she is herself and it is important and good.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think that I'll be continuing this, so it'll sit as is.


End file.
